Indians protest game after umps blow call

CLEVELAND – Strange, strange things are happening at Jacobs Field, baseball’s theater of the absurd.

The wackiest event happened Saturday night when umpires awarded a run to the Baltimore Orioles – three innings after initially waving it off.

Here’s a recap:

The Orioles had just taken a 2-1 lead in the third on Miguel Tejada’s RBI single. With one out, Nick Markakis on third base and Tejada at first, Ramon Hernandez hit a sinking liner to center field.

Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore made a diving catch, popped up and threw to first in time to get Tejada for an inning-ending double play. Markakis, however, tagged up and scored well before Tejada was out at first.

Baltimore’s run should have counted, but it was disallowed by plate umpire Marvin Hudson and the inning ended with the Orioles up 2-1, not 3-1.

Fast forward three innings:

Veteran umpire Ed Montague calls scorekeeper Chad Broski and tells him to add a run for the Orioles, giving them a 3-2 lead. Indians manager Eric Wedges protests the game, arguing that the run can’t be counted later.

“We are filing a formal protest, supported by video and statements to uphold our beliefs,” Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. “Our point of view is not that a mistake was made, but that the score was changed retroactively, after baseball had been played.”